


wonderland

by misura



Category: Pretty Deadly (Comics)
Genre: F/F, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 06:41:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20205400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: "Bunny?""Yes, butterfly?""Will you tell me the story of Alice when she first came to the garden and met Ginny?"





	wonderland

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Panny](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Panny/gifts).

"Bunny?"

"Yes, butterfly?"

"Will you tell me the story of Alice when she first came to the garden and met Ginny?"

"I will, butterfly. But you must remember, this place wasn't a garden back then. It was a cave, dark and full of shadows so dark sometimes you might almost think they were the black, that's how dark they were."

"But there were also butterflies, weren't there? So there must have been flowers. So maybe the garden was there already, only people couldn't see it because of the dark."

"Who can say, butterfly?"

"We could ask. Do you think Alice would know?"

The black beckons.

_It hurts. It hurts! Stop it! Have mercy!_

Peace. Forgetfulness. New chances, new lives, new beginnings.

All within reach. It would be easy, she knows. One step, and then another.

_One blow, and then another. One stab to get the blade wet, and then another. It's easier to keep going once you've started, easier to tell yourself it's all right, they deserve it, they had it coming. Don't stop, don't think, or else the guilt might get you, and the doubt and the fear - 'What if it were me on the other end?' (well, that's easy: then it'd be you doing all the screaming and the crying and the dying, and who in their right mind'd want that, eh? Much better to keep going, that's it, almost there.)_

Alice stops. The crown of flowers on her head has come askew.

She thought she'd lost it, back there, but here it is, and here she is, a little girl in a white dress, wearing a crown of flowers, refusing to take one more step.

No one's making her, after all. She can do what she wants, now.

"Hello," someone says, shy and kind, and Alice turns away from the black. It can't hurt her, can the black, it can only make her stop hurting, and where's the good in _that_? Where's the justice?

Alice has no interest in stopping her own pain. She wants -

Two little girls, playing hide-and-seek in the dark. When they sleep -

("Do the dead sleep, bunny?")

("For a very long time, butterfly.")

\- they sleep curled up around one another, with little girl smiles on their faces, dreaming little girl dreams.

"Did they really?"

"No, butterfly. Not really."

Two little girls, playing hide-and-seek in the dark. One of them used to wear a crown of flowers, used to be sweet and maybe a bit too trusting when the grown-ups told her that it was all going to be fine, hush now, don't cry, be brave, that's a good girl.

"Found you."

A little girl with a little knife. It's sharp, though, and the blade's wet. Stab anyone with a knife like that, and they'll bleed and scream, and maybe fall down, but they won't die, oh no.

The other girl watches. She's a quiet little girl. She doesn't talk much, or maybe there just isn't much to say.

Killing's hard work for little girls, so once they're done playing, they set the house on fire and watch from outside, listening to the screaming. That's much easier.

When they sleep, curled up around one another, they dream.

("What do they dream about, bunny?")

("Death and vengeance and cruelty, butterfly. What all little girls dream about.")

"Too slow," Alice says. "Again." She enjoys sparring with Ginny, enjoys the way Ginny won't say anything, won't make any sound at all until Alice gets in a hit.

There's a bit of blood on Ginny's mouth, from when Alice kicked her, and there will be bruises on both of them, for as long as these things last in Death's cave.

"You could at least try to make this a challenge."

Alice slips under Ginny's guard, considering where to strike. Ginny's lips tighten. Ginny never seems to mind the taunts or the injuries, but she doesn't like losing.

No one does, of course. Alice feels her own lips stretch in a smile, a grin, and then she's tasting Ginny's, hard under hers. Her tongue flicks at the blood, and Ginny opens her mouth, her teeth biting down even before Alice can fully register what's happening, and so the taste of Ginny's blood, Ginny's hard lips mix with that of her own blood, her own desire.

("So was that a dream or did that really happen?")

("Both, butterfly. Have you never felt like something happened to you that you'd already seen happen before sometime? It's because you dreamt it, only when you woke up, you forgot.")

"You're going to leave, aren't you?" Alice asks. "You should take me with you. It'll be like old times."

It has been a long time since they slept curled around one another, wary of what might lurk in the darkness. They still sleep together on occasion, inasfar as anything sleeps in Death's domain.

The two of them, legs entwined, weapons by their sides - they know what lurks in the darkness now.

They know it won't be anything or anyone foolish enough to interrupt, to get in between them, whether they're fighting or fucking or something in between.

"No," Ginny says. Her mouth is bruised.

"No, you're not leaving, no, you're not taking me with you, or no, it won't be like old times?"

"I'm not taking you with me."

"Why not? I'll be good." Alice grins. "For you, anyway. For whoever you're going after, not so much. But that's the point, isn't it? That's what you want. You don't just want to kill them, you want to make them pay. So, come on. I showed you mine. It's only fair if you show me yours."

"Fair." Ginny shakes her head.

"Smart, then," Alice offers. "You don't want him to send me to hunt you down, do you? And I will, you know I will. Things won't end so well, then. To deny someone the vengeance they deserve - well, it is rather cruel, I suppose. I can live with that. Can you?"

Ginny says nothing.

Alice sighs. "I swear, you make everything so much more difficult and complicated than it has to be."

"I'm not the only one," Ginny says.

"True." Alice chuckles. "So, then. Let's make this next one count, shall we? Might be your last."


End file.
